


Sonnet for George Finch

by Isis



Category: Himalayan Mountain Climbers RPF
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Historical References, Poetry, Sonnets, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 04:43:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2838359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isis/pseuds/Isis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What price glory?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sonnet for George Finch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ariadnes_string](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariadnes_string/gifts).



No matter who climbs, or who fails in the trying  
Who speaks what language, or who comes from where  
Who on the snow lies cold, shivering, dying  
Everest stands tall; the mountains don't care.

First ascent candidates England selected  
The Australian Finch was proposed, then rejected  
Pride of Britannia would not give such thanks  
To the chemist who pioneered oxygen tanks

Mallory climbed it, because it was there;  
Finch wasn't given the chance for that glory  
Finch lived to be an old man, gray and hoary  
Mallory died young; the mountains don't care.

Here is the trade-off, the goal of the game –  
Which would you choose: a long life, or fame?

**Author's Note:**

> George Finch was the first person to experiment with and ultimately demonstrate the value of supplemental oxygen for high-altitude mountaineering. Using oxygen, he and his partner Geoffrey Bruce reached a record height of 8326m (though not the summit) on the British Everest expedition of 1922 led by George Mallory. 
> 
> Mallory also led the expedition of 1924, which Finch was originally invited on, then excluded from on spurious grounds by Arthur Hinks, the Secretary of the Mount Everest Committee; the real reason was that he was Australian, and Hinks was determined that the first person to reach the summit should be British. Mallory initially refused to return to Everest without Finch, but was eventually persuaded by members of the British royal family at Hinks' request. He and his partner Andrew Irvine died during their summit attempt. Mallory was 37. Finch died in 1970 at age 82.
> 
> This sonnet is in the iambic tetrameter style used by Alexander Pushkin in his verse novel _Eugene Onegin_ , in both rhyme scheme and the pattern of masculine and feminine rhymes (stressed and unstressed final syllables).
> 
> Thanks to skazka for the beta-read.


End file.
